Sex, Lies and Sensibility Review

By Nikki Payne

Star rating: ★★★★★

Blurb

Two sisters roll up their sleeves to run a dilapidated, beach town inn but must learn to work with the locals in this deliciously spicy Sense and Sensibility inspired rom-com by Nikki Payne. There's never a good time to learn you’re your father's secret second family—especially not at the reading of the will. To add insult to injury, Nora's racy leaked videos just went viral. Nora Dash has got no reputation, no dad, and only a forgotten beach house in rural Maine to her name. There are no other Black people for miles, the place is abandoned, but at least no one will recognize her O face in the backwoods. She and her free-spirited sister Yanne haven’t even knocked the traveling dust off last season's designer boots when the first problem pops up: a fake park ranger giving tours of their property like it's his own—and he’s hotter than the local lobster boil. Ennis "Bear" Freeman is used to people showing up unannounced on his land. So when a beautiful city girl shows up with the deed to his unofficial headquarters in one manicured hand, he gives it a week before their whole crew packs up and leaves. But it isn't long before they find out they work better together than apart. To his surprise, Nora's damned good for Bear's business, and his own secrets might turn out to be the thing that sends them packing.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Read if you like:

🏚️ Slow burn romance

🏚️ Jane Austen retellings

🏚️ House renovation romance

🏚️ Interfering family

🏚️ Great steamy scenes

My Thoughts:

Wow! I had high expectations because I LOVED Pride and Protest but wow did this one blow me away. Nikki Payne did an incredible job taking the soul of Sense and Sensibility and making it relevant for modern readers. Nora has Eleanor’s strength, character and ability to shoulder burdens without complaint. Yanne has Marianne’s emotionality and sense of disdain for societal expectations. I loved that this book was duel POV so we got to see more of Bears’s life than we do of Edwards in the original. Nikki Payne did an incredible job showing his sense of duty and how much he wanted Nora even knowing he couldn’t have her.

I also really appreciated the care Nikki took with showing the experience of being Abenaki as well as black in the United States. One of the reasons I love to read is that I love to see how other people's experiences are different from my own. I love that the romance genre is becoming more inclusive and giving me more opportunities to learn about other racial and cultural groups while reading my favorite genre. I would love to read more romance books with characters of color. I am someone who really struggles with favorites. I usually can’t even pick my favorite book for a month but I am going to say that this book is my favorite book I have read this year. I can’t wait to see what Nikki Payne writes next! I’d love to read more Austen retellings but Nikki if you want to go a different direction that’s fine too. If you write it I’ll read it!

Everyone should read this one and please don’t expect me to stop talking about this one anytime soon. I’ll be recommending it for years!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley Romance for letting me read this one early in order to review it! All opinions are my own.